Join us in the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery for Laura Youngbird's "Inde’Wiisagendam (My Heart Hurts)"
------------------
Exhibition: MON, SEPT 30 - FRI, OCT 25, 9a - 5p, M-F
Chalmers Hall, 3rd Floor, Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery

Opening Reception: SUN, OCT 6 | 3 - 5PM
Artist Talk: MON, OCT 7 | 5:30PM | Marvin Forum
------------------
"Inde’Wiisagendam (My Heart Hurts)" is a collection of multilayered, multifaceted monotypes using the dress as a metaphor. The dress addresses a wide range, of social issues, injustices and biases.

I am a mixed media artist, combining drawing, painting and prints. The dress has been a consistent and important symbol in my work. The simple garment inspires layer upon layer of meaning. I am amazed how the metaphor continues to unravel, reveal and expose even deeper nuances. It began long ago, when I reacted to pictures of my grandmother. She scratched her face out of most of the pictures we have of her. Pictures of her as a very young girl in her little white dress, were especially haunting to me. She was standing in front of the oldest Catholic Church in Minnesota (Grand Portage) where she made her First Communion. The images launched me on a journey of exploration that continues to challenge me today. I explored identify or the lack of, created by the assimilation policy intended to acculturate Native children into the dominate culture. The symbol also reminds me of my mother sewing dresses for my sisters and me, and then teaching us to sew. Making garments for someone can be an act of love. It can be enveloping, nurturing and protective. On the other hand, clothing can create an illusion, to cover, mask and disguise.

I work in series (with mixed emotions) such as Common Thread, Loose Ends, and Blood Memory. I am intrigued with the idea of how intergenerational knowledge and memory are transferred through the maternal ‘blood’ line, coded in the mitochondrial DNA. Iron oxide is an important color that has become integral part of my visual vocabulary. It reminds me of the earth. The Earth is our Mother. Iron is in our blood. Mystifying, but authenticated by science, magnetism empowers migrating birds and animals to know instinctively when and where to travel. I continue to address the Dress and explore the connection between blood and iron, the most common element on Earth."
-------------------------------------------
Laura Youngbird completed her BFA, MA & BS for Art Education from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She is the former Director of Native American Art Programs at Plains Art Museum. She also taught art at Circle of Nations School in Wahpeton ND, as an Artist-in-Resident for the North Dakota Council on the Arts and Fargo Public Schools. Laura has received several awards including a 2018 & 2022 First People’s Fund–Artist in Business Fellowship, Artist Initiative Grants in 2009 & 2013 from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and a Jerome Fellowship in 2003 to work & study with master potter, Richard Bresnahan at St. John’s University, MN. Among other residencies she received an Artist in Residence Fellowship from the Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, NM. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Minnesota State University at Moorhead. Laura has a Masters in printmaking and is a practicing artist working in mixed media-drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics. Her work has been shown in numerous regional and national galleries and exhibitions.